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Due to a current class action settlement underway against Ticketmaster, if you bought tickets through TicketMaster from Oct. 21, 1999 - Oct. 19, 2011 you can join. Should it win, you will receive codes for discounts of $1.50 for each ticket you bought ($1.50 TicketMaster cash, that is...towards another ticket). If you had UPS deliver, that's another $5 each time. Not too great, like $25.50 max per person, and of course U.S. only so I'm fucked out of it. Still interesting though.

LOL. There's a reason I've configured my Facebook feed to be primarily my fiancee, a few friends and family, and the rest bands, movies, news, magazines, etc. etc. I'm on Twitter pretty much the entire day in one form or another, so I'm guilty too...but other than checking ETS, my other half a dozen regular pages, email, etc....I'm bored by a lot of the interwebz.

Yeah, I didn't quite get that, either. I guess you could say it was for harassment. I guess. But that's a pretty fine line.
She was, however, a massive cunt.

It's not a fine line at all. The law in the UK is quite clear: "Expressions of hatred toward someone on account of that person's colour, race, nationality (including citizenship), ethnic or national origin, religion, or sexual orientation is forbidden. Any communication which is threatening, abusive or insulting, and is intended to harass, alarm, or distress someone is forbidden."

Yes. I understand harassment is an issue, but saying something racist or homophobic shouldn't be against the law. It makes someone an asshole, sure. But it should not be illegal. That's ridiculous. Hurting someone's feelings shouldn't get you arrested.

1) It's not a subway. It's a TRAM. A TRAM IS NOT THE TUBE.
2) Actually, 70% of Londoners are WHITE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_London
3) We in England have freedom of speech. You live in America - seen the UC Davis pepper spray video?

Yes. I understand harassment is an issue, but saying something racist or homophobic shouldn't be against the law. It makes someone an asshole, sure. But it should not be illegal. That's ridiculous. Hurting someone's feelings shouldn't get you arrested.

How would bullying fit in? I agree for the most part that people should be able to say hateful things and express hateful ideas And only have to suffer everyone knowing they are bigoted assholes, but at some point doesn't someone cross the line into directly harming another person? Call it bullying, harassment, stalking, terrorism, whatever, you're using your words and general behavior to harm people. To a point It should probably be let go. I mean people shouldn't jailed for a simple insult. But if you take it so far as to make a person legitimately afraid, or to make an entire train horrified? At some point words have to be counted. Ideas are fine, but abuse is abuse.

3) We in England have freedom of speech. You live in America - seen the UC Davis pepper spray video?

I'm strictly going by the law that Tim posted. That doesn't sound like free speech to me. Now, maybe the spirit of the law isn't the same as the letter of the law in that situation, maybe it's enforced differently than the way it's read, I don't know. But, like I said, I was going by the way it was written, and was only commenting on the law itself.

And no one is arguing that we don't have our share of problems, nor was I arguing free speech in America versus England or anywhere else.

Originally Posted by themethatyouknow

How would bullying fit in? I agree for the most part that people should be able to say hateful things and express hateful ideas And only have to suffer everyone knowing they are bigoted assholes, but at some point doesn't someone cross the line into directly harming another person? Call it bullying, harassment, stalking, terrorism, whatever, you're using your words and general behavior to harm people. To a point It should probably be let go. I mean people shouldn't jailed for a simple insult. But if you take it so far as to make a person legitimately afraid, or to make an entire train horrified? At some point words have to be counted. Ideas are fine, but abuse is abuse.

You took my quote out of context. Which is understandable; maybe I didn't quite explain my argument as well as I could have. I'm not saying what she did wasn't harassment. In the section you quoted me from, I was specificially talking about the law that Tim brought up. You and I are pretty much in agreement, actually.

Though maybe it's good that I clairifed, anyway, just so no one misunderstood what I was saying. *shrug* Or maybe I just screwed up. ha ha.

It's specific to hate crime.

Originally Posted by wiki

A person who uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting, is guilty of an offence if—
(a) he intends thereby to stir up racial hatred, or
(b) having regard to all the circumstances racial hatred is likely to be stirred up thereby.

...

The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 amended the Public Order Act 1986 by adding Part 3A. That Part says, "A person who uses threatening words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening, is guilty of an offence if he intends thereby to stir up religious hatred." The Part protects freedom of expression by stating in Section 29J:

Nothing in this Part shall be read or given effect in a way which prohibits or restricts discussion, criticism or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, insult or abuse of particular religions or the beliefs or practices of their adherents, or of any other belief system or the beliefs or practices of its adherents, or proselytising or urging adherents of a different religion or belief system to cease practising their religion or belief system.

Ah, gotcha. Well, to be fair, that context wasn't in the original post. In the context of what we were talking about, it seemed to be specifically talking about speech in general, not hate crimes. Lesson learned, though- next time I'll check the link and read the entire statement in context.

This is the same "news" outlet that cries about a "war on Christmas" every year. I don't think they even believe what they're spewing. I feel the same way about Glenn Beck- there's no way he's that stupid. His listeners are, but he isn't. Stupid and/or ignorant people who watch Fox News, and only Fox News, will fall for this kind of dreck, and they know this sort of sensationalist crap pulls those people in by the millions. It's still pathetic, though.